Overhead garage door



May 22, 1934. c. M. EVANS I OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR Original Filed July 20.1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' mz E' Cariar yazgq.

May 22,' 1934. c. M. EVANS 1,959,663 A OVERHEAD GARAGE noon 'Original Filed July 20. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 & 3 47545 17757? Patented May 22,1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR Charles M. Evans,Dublin, Ind., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Western ProductsCompany, Inc.

Application July 20, 1931, Serial No; 551,853

Renewed November 23, 1933 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-19) This invention relates toan overhead door con-- upon the door so that as the same swings to itsoverhead position only a small portion of, the

door will project beyond the doorway. The invention comprises a novelstructure and combination of parts hereinafter described and moreparticularly pointed out and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred form of thisinvention and in which similar reference numerals refer to similar fea-2 tures in the different views: y

Figure 1 is an interior broken elevational view f a garage having a doorinvolving this invenion. v

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view through the door and one of theupper supporting guideways for the door.

Figure 3' is an enlarged sectional view taken upon the line III-.-III ofFigure '1 looking in the' a keeper 19 is attached to the upper framememdirection of the arrow.

In referring to the drawings, it will be observed that the doorembodying this invention consists of a one-piece member 1 havingbearings 2 attached to its lateral margin adjacent the lower portionthereof at a point which is substantially 85 a quarter of the height. ofthe door from' the bottom thereof; Guide rollers 3 have shaftswjournaledin the bearings 2 and these rollers travel in channel-like guideways 4which are attached to the sidewalls of the doorway. These channel- *0like guideways or tracks 4 have intumed lips-or flanges 5 for confiningthe rollers 3.

Upon the upper edge of the door, there are a pair offspaced' castings 6asshown more clearly in Figure 1. Suitable arms 7 are pivotallyconnected to these castings 6 as shown in Figure 2. A roller hanger 8 isadjustably supported by each arm '7', and each roller hanger 8 supportsa pair of spaced rollers 9 which travel in inverted channel-like tracks10 which are secured within the garage at a height which is atriiieabove the top ofthe door opening. The depending flanges of thechannel-guides or tracks 10 have inwardly extending lips or flanges 11upon which the rollers 9 are adapted to travel. A pair of weatherstrips12 are attached to the closing the same.

outer surfacesof the door frame and extend from the top to the bottom ofthe door frame. The lower lateral portions of the door below the rollers3 are cut away as indicated at 13 in order to pass the Weatherstrip 12when the lower portion of the door is swung-outwardly as will latermorefully appear. A cable 14 is attached to the axle of one roller 3 asshown in Figure 1 and this cable extends vertically to the top ofthe'doorway where it is trained over a pulley 15.' From- 35 the pulley15, the cable extends across to the 1 other side of the doorway and istrained, over another pulley 16. A counterweight 17 is attached to thefree end of the cable 17 vwhich hangs over the pulley is. When the door1 is in its closed position, the upper edge engages under the top framemember 18 as shown in Figure 2 and the counterweight, of course, has noeffect upon the door until the lower end is swung out wardly and theupper end is swung inwardly beyond the top frame member 18. A cable 14ais connected to the axle of the rollerupon the other side of the doorand is trained over a pulley mounted coaxially with the pulley 16 but inthe rear of said pulley so as not to be observablein Figure 1. The freeend of this cable is also attached to the counterweight 1'7.

In referring to Figure -1, it will be observed that her 18' and a latchbolt 20 is mounted in a suitable castingattached to the top portion ofthe door and is adapted to slidably engage thekeeper -19 for locking thedoor in closed position. A suitable wire 21 is attached to the lower endof the latch bolt 20 at one end' while the other end of the wire isattached to a crank arm 22 which is secured upon a shaft 23 whichextends through the door and is provided with an operating knob 24, thelatchbolt may be retracted for unlocking the door when it is' desired toopen the same; Of

course, the latchbolt may-be also projected into its latching positionby rotatingthe knob 24 in the opposite direction. A suitable handle 25may be attached to the outer surface of the door adjacent the bottomthereof as shown in Figure 2 for the purpose of pulling the dooroutwardly at its lower end when it is'desired to open the same. Upon theinside of the door, there is secured a suitable strap 26 or the likewhich hangs down sufliciently when the door is in its open position sothat it may be grasped by the hand of a-person for pulling the doordownwardly from its overhead position and In operating the door-,it isonly necessary unlatch the same by rotating the knob 24 and pulloutwardly upon the handle 25 when the counterweight will elevate thedoor. It will be evident that when the lower portion of the door ispulled outwardly, it will pivot upon the rollers 3 and the upper portionwilll swing inwardly causing the rollers 9 to travel in their guidetracks. Due to the fact that the rollers 3 which constitute thepivotal'point of the door are located at a distance below the centerline of the door, only a small portion of the door will project outward,ly beyond the line of the building when the door is being opened. Whenthe door is closed, it will' abut the weatherstrips 12 as shown andeffectively. seal the weather except for the small portion of the doorthat is cut out. However, as this cutout portion fits the sides of theweatherstrips quite closely very little weather can enter therebetween.

It will be appreciated that by attaching the cables at a point about aquarter from the bottom of the door, a very good balancing arrangementis obtained so that the door may be easily elevated as soon as the upperportion is pushed inwardly beyond the frame member 18. In other words,when the door is in its overhead position, the fulcrum point will be atthe rollers 9, the power will be applied at the rollers 3 and only ashort portion of the door will project outwardly beyond the rollers 3,whereby the counterbalancing force is greatly reduced over the commoncon-.

structions. A further important factor resides in the simplicity of thestructure of the door, and its mounting and the ease with which it canbe opened and closed.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details ofconstruction may be varied through a wide range without depart ng fromthe principles of this invention, and I, therefore, do not purposelimiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by theprior art..

I claim as my invention:

In a building having a doorway provided with a frame, weather stripsattached to the outer surfaces of the sides of said frame, guide tracksupon the inner surfaces of the sides of said frame, guide rollerssecured to the lateral margins of the door below the center line thereofand located in said guide tracks, the lateral margins of the door beingcut away below said guide rollers to clear said weather strip when thedoor is tilted, inwardly extending tracks above said door intermediatethe sides thereof, hangers upon the upper margin of the door, rollerscarried by said hangers for traveling upon said last mentioned tracks,means for latching the upper end of the door upon the inner side thereofand means for tilting and elevating the door to overhead position.

CHARLES M. EVANS.

